Mountain View, Calif.-based Matterport develops technology that allow users to capture images and turn them into 3-D models that can be explored. A current application is providing a way for real-estate listings to be walked through.

Mountain View, Calif.-based 3-D camera maker Matterport announced
a $16 million round of funding today, according to venture capital database CrunchBase. The
large round, which was Matterport’s Series B, came from a
number of high profile venture capital houses including DCM,
AME Cloud Ventures, Greylock Partners and Qualcomm Ventures.
Other participants in the round include Lux Capital, Lux
Capital, Felicis Ventures, Navitas Capital and AMD Ventures.

Matterport’s Pro 3D Camera sells for
$4,500 and has sensors that are able to both capture the
visual look and dimensions of a space. The associated iPad
application then allows a user to generate an immersive, 3-D
model of the space. Once the model has been generated, any
user with access through a web browser can walk through and
around the space from any perspective.

Matterport is working with Google’s Tango
project and Intel’s Real Sense project, which are
bringing 3-D sensors to mobile devices including smartphones
and tablets. Beta versions of smartphones with first
generation 3-D technology have been distributed to limited
groups of developers and early adopters. “The future of 3D
media is mobile,” says Matterport on its webpage about the
partnerships.

While that’s likely true, the most immediately available
application of Matterport’s technology is called Showcase and
it’s for the real-estate industry. Showcase allows potential
renters and buyers to walk through apartment and house listings
from their computers (see example here ). The technology also allows users to
see the apartment from a top down perspective, as if looking
at a doll house.